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New Year, New Life

Among the changes of the past six months or more was a change of house. I have half the space, but am paying half the rent, and it is located in a lovely quiet enclave just 10 minutes walk from the beach. Possibly best of all, it has a garden as large as the house itself so all together I feel I have definitely traded up. I am pleased I can finally get back to digging for victory and have fresh herbs and veg… if only the rain would stop long enough to get anything done! I even discovered a thriving colony of cilantro in my lawn, a herb which has always frustrated me in the past.

Of course long walks on the beach were planned, and I did walk all the way to Espinho one day for the market – about 15k as it turned out, I seem to have slightly misunderstood the geography of my village relative to Espinho!

But the nearly unrelenting rain since Christmas has prevented my getting out very often, and in the storms of early January the boardwalk which runs along the coast from Lavadores, near the mouth of the river, down to Espinho has been largely torn up, particularly at the northern end. Sand has drifted across much of the path and even across the beach-side football pitch near me, but I imagine that won’t stop the games.

One day I gave up on the beach walk and decided to wander inland and learn more about my new ‘hood. I met some neighbours, one of whom was new that morning! One of the things I love here is that there remain some rural pockets in amongst the housing developments – whether a flock of sheep or a half acre of kale or a few dozen chickens.

I looked up Espinho and Vila Nova de Gaia – looks like a long walk but an interesting one, in particular outside “the season”. Espinho looks like it gets busy in the summer – or is that just a couple of days a year? What I’ve found with most journeys be it walking or a day trip by bus or train ride is the outwards is great, its the getting home that’s a pain. Was there an easy way back with your goodies from the market?

Glad to hear you have a garden again. Just today I was out for a tidy up and see what was what with the compost. Spring is on the way.

Hi David! yes that was a before picture… I am hoping the city will be repairing the boardwalk once the weather settles down again – it is incredibly popular. And yes, luckily, from Espinho I and my bags full of fresh veg can take a train, thank heavens!

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